Unacceptable: Apple Health Sync is now behind a $99/year paywall for new accounts

What total BS. I just got into the withings ecosystem (please feel free to check how long I've owned the Bodyfit, beamo and BPMConnect) and was about to gift a scale to my parents, not anymore. Enshittification continues.

Agreed

I bought the BodyScan 2 just recently for the integration with Apple health. Ending that will not convince me to subscribe to anything, it will just convince me to move to a different scale.

You can charge for the devices or the integration. Not both. If the device has no integration built in, it provides no worth compared to the competitors that are a fraction of the cost. I’ll move my business elsewhere if this policy continues. I was also referred to Withings by my medical team for this integration, and they would have no reason to continue sending referrals if the device requires manual data entry like other devices.

Lost a sale I was going to buy the new body scan with my fsa. No way just for basic syncing to Apple will I pay for this

Embarrassingly bad decision. After multiple purchases from Withings, I wouldn’t consider another if this is their direction.

Horrible decision. Withings was the one company left making health devices with Apple Health support that I was actually supportive of and willing to recommend to friends and family. Never again. At least they didnt block Apple Health for existing users but it left a very sour taste in my mouth. 

This will be same as Strava the beginning of the downfall for being too greedy

Absolutely terrible business decision, especially if you want to retain your current customer base. Myself and many others are tired of being put behind paywalls - enough!

Thanks this is a NoGo

Fully agree

UNACCEPTABLE !!! BOYCOTT !! 
I am terribly disappointed.
I already have an account, but I find the move cruel. I wanted to buy the new Withings smart scale. I’ve decided to boycott Withings as long as this measure remains in place.

This is absolutely shameful and ridiculous.
Fortunately, I bought one of their scales just yesterday, and I will be returning it immediately for a full refund.
Needless to say, I will never buy a Withings product again unless they completely backtrack on this absurd policy. Free, native, and 100% working compatibility with Apple Health is the absolute first requirement I look for before spending my money on any smart device.
Locking a simple, local data transfer behind a paywall is a complete insult to consumers. Fortunately, the market is full of alternatives that are both excellent and honest, without forcing you to pay a yearly ransom just to access your own health data. I strongly urge all new buyers to do the same and return their hardware while they still can.

Longtime user, but will not be paying a subscription and will look for another product if it comes to that.

This also violates section 4.10 of the App Store guidelines.

Monetizing Built-In Capabilities

You may not monetize built-in capabilities provided by the hardware or operating system, such as Push Notifications, the camera, or the gyroscope; or Apple services and technologies, such as Apple Music access, iCloud storage, or Screen Time APIs.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

Agreed, absolute money grab and I hope Apple prevents it. It’s already unreliable and health sync has to be reset often, also restoring a phone from backup requires a reinstall of the app manually to get it working again.

Purchased the smart scale with the knowledge of the feature is available. Apple Health sync is on device without any server costs for Withings and I'd never get any other Withings device in the future if this is the roadmap.

Same sentiment as others here. I own several Withings products, and even if grandfathered in, I won’t buy Withings products again in future. I’m all for having paid features behind a plus subscription for those who want it, but Apple Health support just doesn’t make sense.

What a shame, the whole point of these devices is the data....

I'm unhappy with this decision, and it will be a consideration on any future Withings purchases.

I’ll probably choose to leave the Withings ecosystem on my next purchase if this comes to pass.

@Withings what the hell?? This unnecessary policy must be reversed. I have had a Withings watch for many years and have recommended the watches to multiple people. With this blatantly anti-consumer, pro-corporation act, I feel the necessity to tell everyone I know, so we can all stop supporting this company.

I 100% agree that this is a blatant cash grab. I just spent nearly 2000 dollars on whitings gear (nova x2, scan 2, bpm pro, beamo) and am now considering finding alternative gear. This may also be at odds with Apples "no monetization of apple functionality" clause. 

I literally learned about Within devices today, I was excited about it being a EU company, and well designed devices. I ordered the Body Comp scale literally 20 minutes ago, and then I found out that started today, a subscription is required to sync with Apple Health. Literally the main reason I was getting it, as the Health App contains data from my mychart doctors, and being FSA eligible. I'm disappointed at their Subscription decisions, I also felt misled because their Amazon listing does not notice a subscription requirement for the Health app. Needless to say, I cancelled the order. I still haven't found another comparable scale in the market like this one. Let me know if anyone has any recommendations? 

To think I moved from my 25 euro Renpho scales to a 300 euro Withings scale expecting a superior product and experience and now they are going to shaft me if I want access my basic data. 

I was looking at other Withings products to add to my health stack but will turn to others if this nonsense becomes reality.

I agree. I was formerly going to recommend a Withings scale to my family for the holidays, but now I’m going to recommend other brands. The app is already weird in layout. I have Withings+ but will not be renewing. I don’t need to worry about stopping/starting Withings+. I won’t be buying any other Withings products nor any of their services. I was excited about their sleep service. But now I’m going to ensure I don’t buy from this company. I cannot fathom no longer syncing to Apple Health for free. It doesn’t matter the subscription. This specific feature needs to be free. It’s ridiculous. I don’t care if they enhanced their API because it doesn’t warrant putting that specifically behind a paywall. I would rather throw away my scale. I was thinking too about purchasing a scale that was more advanced and the sleep product. But now I’m no longer interested. My account is geandfathered in, but it doesn’t matter because it means they could choose to do this for all accounts anytime.

This is a great example of enshittification at work, and evidence that product leadership has no business sense beyond the immediate bottom line. Withings being compatible with Apple Health makes me MORE likely to purchase the product. I'm a Scan Watch user and a body comp user. But, I also use other things, because, believe it or not, Withings doesn't have 100% coverage over every single category of product out there. And even if they did, it's highly unlikely that I'd use them all for everything. But, I am happy to use Withings for SOME things, because I know I can join that data with other data. I'm never going to buy a subscription for that basic, table-stakes feature. What I'm going to do is stop using those products, and find other compatible players in the future when it's time to buy next. 

Completely agree. This is a bad move for Withings and should be reversed.

Just printed my return label. I got my scale a few days before all this BS started but enough is enough. This company may reverse course on this matter but the damage is done.

I think it's clear that as of now we won't be buying new Withings devices.

But also, I know for a fact that many customers getting through to Withings chat in the last couple of days have had the Apple Health ransom waived on their account, reportedly permanently.

If you purchased a device before the ransom came into force but didn't set up an account until after the fateful date you're in a very strong position. 

I've seen several full chat transcripts where this has been put through "as a gesture of good will" or "as an exception", and I've seen it working for myself - an app that demanded the fee yesterday was working as expected today after speaking with support. 

So if they haven't already completely destroyed your faith in their products and the company in general, get in touch with them on chat. And then pile the pressure on to make them reverse this greed-driven policy for everyone. 

** Why Are They Really Doing This? **

They repeatedly insist in the Support chats and the announcement that due to updates to "our privacy and security measures" the data can only be shared with Apple Health through a Withings+ subscription. 

Absolute rubbish.

Like @Matteo A says, transferring the data to Apple Health happens *entirely* on the iPhone using built-in HealthKit APIs. It goes straight into Health and nobody else sees it. And Apple takes privacy and security seriously, so it couldn't be any more private or secure.

I'd have had more respect for them if they'd claimed that now it costs them money to share the data with Apple Health, because at least that would technically be true.

An upcoming Apple Health update is going to offer new, deeper 'insights' on your data, for free, and I think Withings is worried about how many people might just be happy with that and quit Withings+.

So to protect what they see as their exclusive right to provide 'insights' on data recorded by their devices, they're is going to ensure they get paid for those insights whether you get them from Withings, Apple, Bevel, or any other app. 

I don't know how Apple allows health device companion apps like this to charge us a fee to use the HealthKit APIs like this, they're free and they're right there. It does seem to be against Apple's developer rules according to some other posts here.

** What Next? **

This transforms Withings from a trusted health hardware brand to just another enshittified brand, using already expensive health hardware as the bait to squeeze every last possible penny out of us.

They should roll this back immediately and never consider it again. If they're worried about Apple Health disincentivising Withings+ subs they should make Withings+ better. Many companies have been Sherlock'd by Apple and survived by offering something better. 

I worry that what they'll actually do is either:

1. nothing, betting they'll make enough in ransom money to cover what they'll lose in angry unsubscribers. Or,

2. roll it back for just long enough for people to sort of forget, then make up some spurious reason to kill the Apple Health integration completely, even with Withings+ (I know, don't give them ideas)

I mean you'd think there's no way they'd have the brass neck to kill it altogether but who knows.

I don't even mind that they have a subscription, because I'd never have used it even if Apple Health didn't add insights. All I wanted was to send my weight to Apple Health automatically and heard Withings was decent. If people want Withings+ they'll get it. But they push it far too hard in the app, and ironically that might actually help drive people to the new Apple Health when it arrives. 


TLDR: privacy my backside, it's about money.